Tufts Blogs

Friends,

Tufts University is extending our SAT/ACT test-optional policy for all undergraduate applicants for an additional three years, to include students applying to enter as first-year or transfer students in the Falls of 2024, 2025, and 2026.  

In March 2020, we announced a three-year SAT/ACT test-optional pilot for undergraduate applicants. The three-year pilot allowed all students enrolled in high school at that time to know that they would not need to take the SAT or ACT, or submit their scores, if they chose to apply to Tufts. It also allowed Undergraduate Admissions to begin disentangling scores from our holistic review process, reducing and reimagining the role scores play in that process for those who submit them.

Tufts University practices holistic and contextual admissions. That is, any component of an application is always considered in the appropriate context and is considered as just one of many criteria weighed in our committee-based evaluation process. No single factor determines an admission decision, and every admitted student is admitted because of a constellation of compelling academic and community engagement factors in the context of that year’s applicant pool. Test scores have always only been one of many factors in that process. Since shifting to test-optional admissions, scores mean less than they ever have in our process, though we do continue to review them for students who submit their scores.

Thus far in our test-optional pilot, we have collected two years of applicant data, but only one year of academic performance data for enrolled students - the Class of 2025. The Class of 2026 is just now finishing its first semester.

While we believe we need more data to make a meaningful determination on the use of testing, here’s what we do know:

Over the last two years, about half of our undergraduate applicants have not submitted scores, about 40% of admitted students have not submitted scores, and about 45% of our enrolling classes have not submitted scores. On the whole, students who enrolled in the Class of 2025 - whether they submitted scores or not - are doing very well academically and earning strong grades at Tufts. 

Candidly, my colleagues and I in Undergraduate Admissions have enjoyed reading applications in a test-optional environment. This policy expands the types of conversations we have about candidates and encourages us to dig deeper to understand the achievements, contributions, and aspirations of all applicants.

My team and I hope this extension of our policy empowers future applicants to Tufts to decide for themselves whether to sit for the exams, and if so, whether their scores are a meaningful indicator of their academic performance and potential. 

Sincerely,

JT Duck

Dean of Admissions